Anime Blog Tracker

Random Call (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

Ohkanda’s narrative proves that one does not need a big budget to deliver a narrative that touches the spectator.

psycho-cinematography

Apr 20, 2022 • Subscribe

Angry Son (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

“An incredibly rich and deep narrative that not only delivers a satisfying coming-of-age story but also an elegantly delivered social commentary on some of the frictions marking Japanese…

psycho-cinematography

Mar 18, 2022 • Subscribe

An Interview with Kahori Higashi, Director of Melting Sounds [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

An Interview with Kahori Higashi, Director of MOOSIC Lab affiliated film “Melting Sounds”. It is available in Japanese and English. [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

Genkinahito

Jul 15, 2022 • Subscribe

Marchen Awakens Romance

Melting Sounds (ほとぼりメルトサウンズ, Kahori Higashi, 2021)

Displaced youngsters begin to find a new sense of place thanks to a warmhearted young woman and an old man’s ambient sound obsession in Kahori Higashi’s quirky drama

Windows on Worlds

Apr 28, 2022 • Subscribe

Marchen Awakens Romance

Our House Party (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

Kawanobe delivers a very touching and emotional story about homosexuality in Japan.

psycho-cinematography

Apr 11, 2022 • Subscribe

Melting Sounds ほとぼりメルトサウンズ Director: Kahori Higashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]

Melting Sounds is a wonderfully incisive yet offbeat MOOSIC LAB film concerned with mortality and human connections. Higashi’s light touch delivers a profound, cute, and deeply humanistic pae…

Genkinahito

May 27, 2022 • Subscribe

Marchen Awakens Romance

OAFF 2022 Special

 Hello everyone, In this special episode of Heroic Purgatory, John and Jason discuss their favorite movies from the wonderful 2022 Osaka Asian Film Festival. Timestamps:2:53 - Media Consumption19:12 - News23:42…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 28, 2022 • Subscribe

OAFF 2022 Special

 Hello everyone, In this special episode of Heroic Purgatory, John and Jason discuss their favorite movies from the wonderful 2022 Osaka Asian Film Festival. Timestamps:2:53 - Media Consumption19:12 - News23:42…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 28, 2022 • Subscribe

OAFF 2022 Special

 Hello everyone, In this special episode of Heroic Purgatory, John and Jason discuss their favorite movies from the wonderful 2022 Osaka Asian Film Festival. Timestamps:2:53 - Media Consumption19:12 - News23:42…

Heroic Purgatory

Mar 28, 2022 • Subscribe

Melting Sounds ほとぼりメルトサウンズ Director: Kahori Higashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022] Rewrite

Melting Sounds is a wonderfully incisive yet offbeat MOOSIC LAB film concerned with mortality and human connections. Higashi’s light touch delivers a profound, cute, and deeply humanistic pae…

Genkinahito

Jul 15, 2022 • Subscribe

Rewrite, Marchen Awakens Romance

Far Away, Further Away (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

“A beautiful film that elegantly explores the role the imaginary plays in marital failure as well as in the beginning of a new romantic bond.”

psycho-cinematography

Apr 2, 2022 • Subscribe

Short Movie Time: Outsourcing (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

“A very satisfying satirical short thta shows that, within the job-seeking process, only the image matters.”

psycho-cinematography

Apr 17, 2022 • Subscribe

Melting Lover Manga Review

Visit the post for more.

GAR GAR Stegosaurus

Jul 8, 2020 • Subscribe

The Light Of The Spring (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

“An experimental ‘dramamentary’ that succeeds to charm and touch the spectator with its rich mundane and genuine interactions.”

psycho-cinematography

Mar 20, 2022 • Subscribe

Sanka: Nomads of the Mountains (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

“A visually enticing narrative that elegantly explores the unresolvable tension between the societal Other and the subject.”

psycho-cinematography

Apr 8, 2022 • Subscribe

Short Movie Time: Bagmati River (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

“A beautiful poetic short that elegantly plays with the contrast between life and death.”

psycho-cinematography

Mar 24, 2022 • Subscribe

Short Movie Review: Natsuko (2020) [OAFF 2022]

“A splendid debut by Shuna Iijima.”

psycho-cinematography

Mar 27, 2022 • Subscribe

Ask For The Moon (2022) review [OAFF 2024]

A satisfying narrative that illustrates how the subject’s ego is but a response to his complexes and struggles.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 5, 2024 • Subscribe

North Shinjuku 2055 (Japan, 2022) [OAFF 2022]

Jason Maher reviews Daisuke Miyazaki's sci-fi short North Shinjuku 2055.

VCinema

Apr 18, 2022 • Subscribe

Manhwa Review | Melting Point by Chamji

Hyun has desperately been trying to get a job. He’s been trying to get a stable job since he graduated, and since he’s nearing his thirties, he’s more…

Eve Healy

Mar 24, 2023 • Subscribe

Out of TOKYO 202x (Japan, 2022) [OAFF 2022]

Jason Maher reviews Akinori Ikuse's short film Out of TOKYO 202x.

VCinema

May 15, 2022 • Subscribe

To Be Killed by a High School Girl (2022) review [OAFF 2022]

“The effective interaction between his fluid composition, the great narrative structure, and the thematical exploration of trauma and perverse fantasies ensures that the film hits all the rig…

psycho-cinematography

Apr 5, 2022 • Subscribe

Short movie time: North Shinjuku 2055 (2021) review [OAFF 2022]

“A pleasant experimental short.”

psycho-cinematography

Mar 30, 2022 • Subscribe

The Wonder Of a Summer Day (2022) [OAFF 2022]

“A visually pleasing narrative that underlines, in a charming and touching way, the importance for the subject to find the kind of signifiers that can unlock his/her deadlock.”

psycho-cinematography

Apr 23, 2022 • Subscribe

Amalock (2024) review [OAFF 2024]

A narrative that fluidly combines comedy and tragedy to deliver an experience of smiles and tears.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 17, 2024 • Subscribe

Snowdrop (2024) review [OAFF 2024]

A complex character portrait that touchingly illustrates how easy it is to misrecognize the logic of the subject-supposed-to-be-in-need.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 29, 2024 • Subscribe

Cafune (2023) review [OAFF 2023]

A very strong debut by Haruki Kinemura.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 28, 2023 • Subscribe

Suton (2024) review [OAFF 2024]

Rikako Watanabe’s narrative succeeds to echo the unvocalized ‘pandemic’ truth of many.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 2, 2024 • Subscribe

V. Maria (2025) review [OAFF 2025]

The neatly interwoven narrative fabric, which evokes the dimension of loss in various forms, beautifully sketches out the importance for the subject to construct a narrative to support…

psycho-cinematography

Mar 27, 2025 • Subscribe

Blue Imagine (2024) review [OAFF 2024]

A powerful reminder of the sexual transgressions that structurally plague the Japanese film industry

psycho-cinematography

Apr 1, 2024 • Subscribe

Good Luck (2025) review [OAFF 2025]

Shin Adachi utilizes the dynamic of the encounter to examine the problem of desiring within the societal field and the way desire give rise to misunderstanding between subjects.

psycho-cinematography

Apr 2, 2025 • Subscribe

Faraway Family (2023) review [OAFF 2024]

A very touching narrative that explores the frail position of the father and how his structural failure can cause subjective struggles and inhibitions.

psycho-cinematography

Apr 4, 2024 • Subscribe

Yoyogi Johnny (2025) review [OAFF 2025]

Kimura’s choice to give the tragical dimension of love a deadpan comical twist pays off, creating a unique narrative that will resonate with youth and those who have…

psycho-cinematography

Apr 29, 2025 • Subscribe

Kanon

Goto-san (2021) review [OAFF 2021]

“Gokan expertly reveals the position of the freeter as an attempt to escape the capitalistic machinery but also as a position that most easily falls prey to the…

psycho-cinematography

Apr 24, 2021 • Subscribe

Wash Away (2024) review [OAFF 2024]

A pleasant narrative that offers a fresh but familiar exploration of the subject’s fundamental desire for recognition/love and the problematic yet medicative function of consumption.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 23, 2024 • Subscribe

Sumiko 22 (2024) review [OAFF 2024]

A subtle but playful narrative about a subject who slowly tries to crawl out the hole of emptiness and diminished self-worth.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 14, 2024 • Subscribe

Sumiko

Short Movie Time: Shall We Love You? (2022) [OAFF 2023]

A nice little heart-warming short that questions the connection between love and happiness.

psycho-cinematography

Apr 2, 2023 • Subscribe

Interview with Kasho Iizuka, Director of Angry Son [OAFF 2022]

Jason Maher talks to Kasho Iizuka about his drama Angry Son.

VCinema

May 25, 2022 • Subscribe

Sweet Bitter Candy (2021) review [OAFF 2021]

“An amazing exploration of the clash between a sweet youthful romantic desire and the bitter urge of a wounded subject to defend his subjective wounds.”

psycho-cinematography

Apr 30, 2021 • Subscribe

Side by Side (2023) review [OAFF 2023]

A peaceful dream-like visual experience that celebrates both the impact subjects have on each other as well as the manner in which the subject remains opaque to himself…

psycho-cinematography

Mar 19, 2023 • Subscribe

I Am Kirishima (2025) review [OAFF 2025]

A timely narrative that highlights the inert quality of a societal field structured by capitalism and right-wing nationalism.

psycho-cinematography

Apr 19, 2025 • Subscribe

Performing Kaoru’s Funeral (2023) review [OAFF 2024]

Yuasa’s narrative shows that the unavoidable presence of death during a funeral can allow a subject to re-route his own trajectory.

psycho-cinematography

Apr 7, 2024 • Subscribe

More Clever than it Sounds – Rideback Spoiler Review

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… wait, I already used that intro last week? Um… Rideback! So, yeah, Rideback in extremely reductionist theory is another of…

Harper Anime Reviews

Nov 13, 2023 • Subscribe

VG Pulse 381: Melting My Heart Away

This week on VG Pulse, we’re doing two shows a month now!! We start off with side notes of work life and general updates, before heading off to…

Anime Pulse

Nov 12, 2022 • Subscribe

Interview with Daisuke Miyazaki, Director of North Shinjuku 2055 [OAFF 2022]

Jason Maher talks to Daisuke Miyazaki about his sci-fi short North Shinjuku 2055.

VCinema

Apr 19, 2022 • Subscribe

A New Wind Blows (2021) review [OAFF 2021]

A great film that shows that the madness of the male subject is often function of a woman, of a woman that unknowingly puts the by a man…

psycho-cinematography

Apr 20, 2021 • Subscribe

Memories of this Scent (2024) review [OAFF 2024]

An endearing and fragrance rich tale of subjective change.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 8, 2024 • Subscribe

[Five] The Sounds of Togetherness

In her final year of middle school and on the grand stage of the national koto competition, Satowa Hozuki, the prodigal heir to the Hozuki school of koto,…

A Carriage Return

Dec 22, 2019 • Subscribe

Short Movie Time: Perfect・Nervous (2024) review [OAFF 2024]

An exquisitely crafted narrative that touchingly shows that a simple encounter, a simple exchange of signifiers, can turn a wish to die into a desire to life.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 26, 2024 • Subscribe

The Burden Of The Past (2023) review [OAFF 2023]

With his latest drama film, Funahashi’s delivers a contender for this year’s best Japanese film.

psycho-cinematography

Mar 13, 2023 • Subscribe